Merrifield's Predictions

As I write this,a tsunami of disdain is circling the world regarding a scam ad for the WWF from Brazil. It had already won a 2009 One Show award and a number of people had recently tweeted about it. Within hours, the US branch of the World Wildlife Fund used its Twitter account to spread the word that the ad was a fake and that they had nothing to do with it.

The fact that they had contacted everyone so rapidly shows media savvy skills not typically associated with non-profits.Bravo.We truly “live in the public”.

It sums up perfectly the world we find ourselves in September 2009.One year along from the financial meltdown and the recalibration continues. Not just in our industry, but the ones most of our clients operate in as well.

Great work continues to defy gravity, not to mention the silos within which most awards shows are structured. And the ability, not to mention desire, to waste precious energy and human capital on creating scams seems quaintly antediluvian. It’s a pretty amazing world after all.

At this year’s inaugural Spikes (now with Cannes starburst on the packaging!) I wouldn’t be surprised to see this trend continuing.

Stunning work like Yellow Treehouse from New Zealand and The World’s Best Job from Australia should shine front and centre. (The team responsible for the latter will surely continue practicing their swagger in front of the mirror,accustomed as they are to walking off with the top prize.)

The remarkable KitKat work from Tokyo that managed to drag Japan’s Post Office kicking and screaming into the 21st century and the unabashedly sentimental (read: kawaiii) Yubari Town campaign should ensure that the Hinomaru is the most awarded flag in the show. And this even before the Japanese get their mitts on most things shiny and metal in the digital space.

Thailand will continue to be conspicuous by its absence,unless the red shirt and yellow shirt brigades have put down their pebbles long enough to allow the country’s wellspring of talent to flow freely. Singapore will no doubt impress with impressive art direction, the Ben & Jerry’s print work chief among them. And the Philippines — if Stefan Sagmeister’s opinions are anything to go by — should make its presence felt in design with some wonderful recycle bags.